by Aline Riva
“What's this about?” he murmured, taking in the sight of the armed guards and the sectioned off corridor that bore signs and information posters in every language. Airport staff were waiting at the entrance, carrying information leaflets. He scanned the information from where he stood, glancing over as Tara did:
No passengers permitted beyond this point – Quarantine area, Flu Vaccination M0-RBD -1 required.
David thought back to the new deadly flu virus that had swept the globe, causing more panic than it had claimed victims, recently there had been a huge campaign to push for worldwide vaccination as experts feared the rise of a new pandemic.
“We can't travel without it?” Tara said in surprise, “Bit of an over reaction...every new outbreak that happens dies out and it's never a bad as it’s predicted to be...”
“And it looks like these regulations were put in place while we were flying from London,” David replied, glancing back at the group, who had also noticed the signs and the armed guards and had stared to wander forward, clustering closer as they took in the information.
He gave a sigh.
“We have three hours before that flight, we need to get this out of the way,” then he turned to the rest of the group. “Apparently new safety measures have been put into place between leaving London and arriving here – a world wide vaccination campaign to protect travellers from the new flu virus. We all need jabs before we board for the Arctic.”
“What?” said Lauren, her face paling at the thought of a needle.
“For fucks sake....” Ryan muttered under his breath.
“If we don't do it, we don't fly.” Holly said, turning to the others.
Samantha nodded.
“It's only a vaccination...can't hurt us.”
“Sooner we get this out of the way, sooner we get on that plane,” added Justin.
“Okay then, follow me,” David said, “Let's get this over with, shall we?”
And he led the way towards the quarantine area.
Two hours later after a long wait to be processed, checked for symptoms of the virus and then given the jabs, the group were released through to the departure lounge to wait for the next flight. By now all were quiet and the mood had damped a little by the ache in their arms from the needle as Sofia kept on fretting about whether or not the vaccine would give her flu symptoms.
“I don't want to get flu in the Arctic!” she complained.
“Don't you ever shut up?” snapped Ryan, turning his head and looking out at departing aircraft as he sat beside the two young women.
“Yeah, that's just about your style summed up,” Samantha said sharply, “Picking on my cousin. A girl. Wasn't so hard when you tried to grab that bloke's case out of his hand, were you?”
At the mention of the incident on the way to the departure lounge, Ryan's face turned scarlet. Their own baggage was being transferred to a smaller, four engine BAE 146-200 that would make the flight to the Arctic. But that hadn't occurred to Ryan, on passing the baggage area he had seen a tall, well built middle aged man carrying a case that looked exactly like his own – and proceeded to sprint over to him and try and tug the case out of his hand. The man had turned on him, grasping his wrist and twisting his arm back, making him squeal as David had stepped in, calmed the situation, apologised for Ryan's behaviour and then led him away, Ryan red faced as he clutched at his bruised wrist. The others had seen it happen and as they had smirked and chuckled and looked away, Ryan's face had flushed scarlet. His mood had been foul ever since.
“And that's enough of that, we're adult, let's behave like it, shall we?” David said, shooting a warning glance to Ryan, who turned his face away and looked out the window once more.
The others were also seated, quiet now as they waited for the last half an hour until they could board the flight. David walked over to the other side of the lounge and Tara followed, where they stood together and looked out, thinking about the adventure that lie ahead.
“I can't wait to get there,” he said to her, “I've never been before. I'm not a great fan of ice and snow, I hate the cold – but the landscapes are fantastic.”
“I know,” she replied, “I wouldn't have missed this for the world.”
He glanced at her and smiled.
“Or me?”
“You're definitely the added attraction!” she replied, and they both exchanged a fond glance.
While David and Tara were at a distance Samantha looked on, now her boyfriend had got up and gone over to a vending machine where Matt was getting a soda, she looked to her cousin and smiled.
Mr Harley is gorgeous, “she murmured.
Sofia shook her head.
“He's a miserable bastard who always criticises our work. He's always serious, he never has a laugh – what do you see in him?”
“He's such a looker!”
“He won't ever return your interest,” Holly added, sitting two seats away as she sorted through her hand luggage, a small holdall that was on her lap as she checked she had everything she needed,” Really Samantha, have you not noticed how he ignores you when you eye him up? He's a professional person, he's got no interest in students – not in that way.”
“I think he's okay,” Justin remarked, pausing to rub his aching arm through his thick winter coat as he felt sure that vaccine was still burning at the site of the injection, “And so is Miss Cochran, Tara's great.”
“Yeah, she's okay,” Sofia agreed.
By the time Ryan and Matt had returned from the vending machine, the group had settled down to quietly wait. The time passed quickly, and when it was time to board, the mood was light once more. They were on the way to their destination, the last nine hours of the flight was about to begin.
After take off, the small but comfortable interior felt cosy compared to the cold view of the world beyond the windows of the plane. The party were sat together in one row, as David looked back he noticed several of the students were asleep once more – Matt was dozing, Ryan sleeping deeply, as were a few of the girls. Lauren was awake, looking out the window as she watched the flight moving on through the clouds towards the icy wastes of Antarctica. Megan was sleeping, Holly was reading up on their destination, as Alex settled back comfortably in his seat and closed his eyes, Justin rubbed again at his irritated arm.
David turned back to Tara.
“Nine hours to go.”
“Yes,” she replied, meeting his gaze with a smile, “And no disasters so far, we haven't lost anyone, no one's been arrested -”
“Ryan came close -”
“But wasn't - thanks to you! I think this trip will go well.”
“I'm looking forward to later on tonight,” he murmured, his eyes darkening with the promise of all that was to come once they reached the hostel and he took her in his room and locked the door firmly behind them.
“Me too,” she replied, and then she settled back in her seat, closing her eyes as jet lag began to take its toll on this final part of the long journey to the frozen wastes of Antarctica.
And further down the rows of seats, as most of the party slept, Justin ran his fingers through sweat soaked hair and shivered into his thick snow coat as he guessed he had got unlucky – none of the others seemed to be developing flu symptoms because of the shots, but he was sure that he was, because he was starting to feel as if he was coming down with a bug...and his arm was aching , throbbing vaguely where that needle had gone in and the vaccine had stung as it slipped into a vein. He shivered again, hoped no one would notice how lousy he felt, then turned his gaze to the window, hoping the time would pass quickly because he wanted to get off this plane, he wanted fresh air to revive him, he felt lousy – but that was something he knew he had to hide from the others.
Everyone was paranoid about flu these days, and he didn't want to spend the whole trip shut in his room. This would be something he would have to keep secret if he wanted to have a good time. But all the same, that throbbing in his arm didn't let up as he broke ou
t in another sweat and he wondered how long he could hide this, because he was really feeling rough now, more than that, it was almost as if that vaccine had poisoned him...He just hoped this would pass quickly because he really couldn't afford to let the others know about it or the whole trip would be ruined...
Chapter 2: A Chill in the Air
A nine hour flight over the Drake Passage passed by quickly for the travellers, already weary from the long flight from London to Chile. As she nudged him and David opened his eyes, he still felt tired from the long flight and as he glanced at her Tara reminded him they were landing soon. He straightened up in his seat, glanced back at the rest of the group and saw most were awake, certainly looking brighter than he felt. But they were young and enthusiastic, most looking like they couldn't wait to get out there on that ice and start exploring the land and photographing its wonderful sights. As for himself, all David could conclude was that he still felt mildly jet lagged and even if she didn't care to admit it, Tara looked pretty tired too.
“I guess my membership to the mile high club will have to wait.”
“Maybe on the way back.”
He shot her a glance as he smiled and his eyes sparkled playfully.
“You're teasing me! Don't do that too often...not long now until I get you alone!”
Tara smiled too.
“I can't wait!” she said keenly, and hearing the eagerness in her voice made him recall their last hot and passionate encounter only three days before, and a shiver went through his body as if she had somehow sent a bolt of pleasure through his body, sparking every nerve ending into life. Until now, his main concern had been exactly how cold it would be out there on the ice despite the layers of clothing he was wrapped in and the fact that he had enough knowledge of survival skills to easily cope – he didn't like the idea of the extreme temperatures. But suddenly the cold was the last thing on his mind as he thought again of how warm he would be – how warm she would be next to him, when they were finally alone together.
The rest of the group were preparing for the landing, all wide awake now and enthusiastic as the sight of the vastness of the ice that seemed to rise out of the water and stretch on forever loomed into distant view, framed by a dark and roughened terrain at its random edges.
All were looking at the sight of the land as it neared - all except for Justin, who huddled down into his seat, wiped sweat from his brow and ran his fingers through his dampened hair as his eyes darted nervously about the plane to his fellow passengers. Aside from his own group there were other travellers on board, visitors who were keenly looking forward to discovering this grand continent. They were all wrapped up in their own stories of holidaying and journeying to the last great wilderness – not one had noticed the state of him, and he was sure they could have if they had turned around – he felt like he was burning up. Shivering, waves of heat and chill passing through him as whatever it was seemed to be working its way slowly through his body, breaking down his defences. It seemed stupid to imagine it like some kind of creeping monster, but that was how it felt – like his body was under attack.
Justin straightened up in his seat, wiped away more sweat and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he managed to keep his composure and he pushed away the ridiculous thought that perhaps the needle he had been injected with had been somehow infected, maybe it had been dropped, maybe particles of bacteria were floating about free to roam his bloodstream causing harm all through his body – or maybe he was having a reaction to the shot, maybe he was just unlucky...
He glanced across the aisle and accidentally caught the eye of his tutor, Tara. She smiled and he smiled back then looked away, keeping his sweating face to the window as he realised that however bad this felt, it didn't show as much as he imagined it did...
He kept that thought in mind as he prepared for landing, guessing that if it didn't show, he had no worries – no one would know, he had been feeling terrible since boarding the plane and had got away with it for the past nine hours. Maybe this was the worst of it, maybe it would pass...
Then as the short, rounded body of the four engine plane began a graceful and gradual descent towards the landing point, the view from the window showed water rapidly left far behind as they passed over rocky terrain forever hardened by layers of permafrost, as gradually, the dark ground began to speckle white and those white patches grew from glistening ice to thick white snow. As the descent continued, all passengers were watching the view as land was over taken by dazzling white, suddenly ice and snow was the entire view and brilliant in its glare as the sun shone down on it, as the plane softly touched down on the frozen Antarctic runway.
Leaving the plane was a new experience as the passengers departed down a small flight of steps on to solid frozen ground. Markers had been placed to guide the way where up ahead, solid units, brightly coloured and some raised off the ground and some metallic and with domed roof tops stood out brightly against the white glare of the snow. Up ahead in the distance stood a large, solid building with many windows and two floors, it was also raised off ground level and looked to be the main building in this newest settlement area.
The others watched as a woman wrapped in thick layers met with the tutors and shook their gloved hands.
“I'm Sylvia Fischer,” she said, “Welcome to Antarctica...I run the hostel over there on the hillside – it overlooks the bay, right out to sea. Follow me.”
“How romantic…” David muttered, knowing full well Tara had heard what he had said by the look on her face as she glanced back at him.
They quickly caught up to walk alongside Sylvia as the rest of the group wandered behind them, transport would be bringing up the luggage shortly, so for now the party were able to trudge slowly up the long ascending track, heading for the largest building there on the edge of the arctic landscape.
“How long have you been out here?” David asked.
Sylvia was wrapped up well, partly hidden by a scarf, but a lock of the older woman's blonde hair had escaped her hat and she wore a trace of mascara about pale blue eyes that sparkled with enthusiasm. Clearly, she enjoyed being here, she was passionate about this place.
“I've run the hostel for three years,” she replied, “I rotate with other staff members, few months on and off through the tourist season. You won’t find many people at any of the stations out here – few skeleton staff, research bases have around twenty to fifty at any given time and mostly the population increases with visitors and shrinks when they leave. Few people work out here but those of us who do, love it. Maybe a little too much” She sniggered.
“I had a good read up on this place before the trip,..” David replied, “It hadn't occurred to me until now that there are no native Antarcticans.”
“That's right,” she replied, her breath making an icy cloud through the fabric of her scarf as they went on their way through the freezing weather, “No indigenous population. Only a mixture of visitors, staff and scientists mostly, all of us visitors. I think it's fitting really, I mean, no one can own the Arctic. No one can ever say they are descended from people hailing from this place – there are none. Antarctica belongs to nature. It always will.”
As they trudged on through the snowy ground that felt permanently frozen beneath their boots, David looked to wild skies streaks blue and white, the clouds flurried in soft streaks as if set there by a spray can as the landscape about them became more dazzling, shades of white and reflecting blue, running to brilliance as the sun shone down, layers of ice and ledges where snow had packed softly, odd shapes in the landscape throwing shadows like this whole place was some kind of mad open plan ice palace with no roof but the sky. It was savage but beautiful, the cold of it deadly and the lure of the snow enticing. This was wilderness territory.
But the presence of the brightly coloured buildings that they had now started to pass came as a comfort even though there was no warmth in their tough painted exteriors, it was reassuring signs of life, to see these building
s on the way up to the hostel. Now and then he caught sight of workers in brightly coloured padded clothing, wrapped up against the cold as the went from one building to another.
“We have a weather research base over there,” Sylvia said, indicating to a building set far north in the distance, “Most of the other buildings here are secondary to that – or contain supplies. We have more than twenty landing areas here for planes and many points of docking for ships, and you'd be amazed how many settlements there are. It's an international effort.”
As they approached the main entrance to the hostel, while Sylvia talked about her role here and how much she adored the Arctic, David and Tara listened as they accompanied her while the others all followed on, none speaking, all looking about, taking in the sight and the silence of the snow covered land. It was something so indescribable, not even the heaviest snowfall any could recall in the UK came close to this. It was simply a frozen land, stunning in its deadly chill and hypnotising with its dazzle and glare as the sun hit sparkling ice crystals making the snow twinkle. It was almost magical if not for the fact that every person in the party was fully aware of the dangers of the cold – it was zero degrees and would soon drop below, anyone left out in that would be frozen solid very quickly. But maybe that was part of its allure – the deadly but beautiful. All of them felt it, this really was like no other place on earth and its spell had been cast hitting them all with its cold beauty.
Once the travellers were inside and the door to the hostel firmly closed behind them, shutting out the cold as at once all were instantly aware of the rising temperature thanks to the heating system, Sylvia took off her gloves, hat and scarf, unzipped her thick coat and indicated to a doorway down a corridor in the opposite direction to the way they had come in.